HPV Country Profile

59

cases in 2018

59

deaths in 2018

The HPV vaccine is currently not included in Kuwait’s national immunization program.

Description

HPV

General Information

Human Papillomavirus

Burden of HPV infection:

In Kuwait, about 0.2% of women in the general population are estimated to have HPV type 16 or 18 at a given time, which causes approximately 72.4% of invasive cervical cancers in the country.1 A 2011 study showed that 2.4% of women have any type of HPV, and another study from 2018 concluded that HPV strains 16, 18 and 45 were the most prevalent.4,5

Burden of cervical cancer

Cervical cancer, caused by HPV, is the eleventh leading cause of cancer deaths in women in Kuwait, causing at least 31 deaths annually among the population of 1.3 million women aged 15 years and older who are at risk for the disease.1,2 Between 2012 and 2018, the number of deaths every year due to cervical cancer nearly tripled (12 in 2012 to 31 in 2018), and if decisive action is not taken at the national level, annual deaths due to the disease will nearly triple again by 2040, reaching 82 deaths per year.3 In Kuwait, at least 59 women are newly diagnosed with cervical cancer each year.

3.3 per 100,000 women in Kuwait contract cervical cancer annually and 2.2 per 100,000 Kuwaiti women die due to the disease each year. Among countries in the MENA region (as defined by UNAIDS), Kuwait’s death and incidence rates due to cervical cancer are relatively low. For example, Somalia and Morocco have the highest incidence and mortality rates, with 24.0 and 17.2 women per 100,000 being newly diagnosed with cervical cancer annually and at least 21.9 and 12.6 women per 100,000 dying due to cervical cancer per year, respectively. Whereas Iran, Iraq and Yemen have the lowest (around 2 per 100,000 women are diagnosed per year and about 1 per 100,000 die because of cervical cancer annually).2